2024 Olympic Swim Trial Eiffel Tower Replica to Find Its Permanent Home at the International School of Indiana

Indianapolis marked an unforgettable stop on the road to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, serving as host to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials -Swimming presented by Lilly- the first time a swim meet has been held in an NFL stadium. An important symbol of our city’s extraordinary efforts to host the event was a 66-foot-tall, 14,000-pound replica Eiffel Tower constructed by Indiana Sports Corp, F.A. Wilhelm Construction, and the Latinas Welding Guild. The tower, constructed on Georgia Street, greeted a record-breaking 285,000 fans during the nine-day event. 

The International School of Indiana (ISI) is honored to be selected as the permanent home for this art piece. ISI is able to accept this donation from Indiana Sports Corp, thanks to the generosity of donors, including Indiana Sports Corp, F.A. Wilhelm Construction, Schmidt and Associates, and Energy Harness, who are supporting the installation efforts of the tower. 

The Olympic Movement and the mission of ISI align in a shared commitment to fostering global citizenship and leadership through education. Both prioritize the development of youth as responsible citizens dedicated to creating a more peaceful, interconnected world and recognize the power of doing so through sports.

The collaboration evident in successfully hosting the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in an NFL stadium echoes the creative collaboration required to build an International School in Indianapolis 30 years ago. This type of collaboration knows no boundaries, and it is what makes the city of Indianapolis so unique. 

As the only school in the Midwest with our unique mission and that provides language immersion in French, Spanish, and Mandarin, ISI believes there is no better permanent home for this beautiful work of art than our campus. We are excited to bring this piece back to life! ISI looks forward to sharing our plans for the permanent installation of the replica Eiffel Tower in the fall of 2025. 

While preparations for the permanent installation are underway, the Eiffel Tower will be stored in the Blackwell Building's gravel parking lot. This area will be fenced off, and the entire lot will be closed off to vehicles and foot traffic for the time being.  We thank our community for their cooperation and support during this exciting process!